


The Curse

by sagaluthien



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-05
Updated: 2011-10-05
Packaged: 2017-10-24 08:23:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/261195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sagaluthien/pseuds/sagaluthien
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She has lived with her speciality to see things happening before they do, and never liked it. She take it worse when it concern her family and friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Curse

**Author's Note:**

> This one is one of my older stories and written before 2005.

  
**The curse**   


Jane was standing at the airports baggage carousel. After changing the date to meet back and forth several times she’d finally landed in England and was on her way to meet Terry, Mark, Kate and Betty. She took a deep breath, to really feel that she was standing with both feet on the ground. She collected her suitcase and started walking.

During the whole trip, and especially this last day, she had been feeling queer; it wasn’t just for the trip. Something else was happening. She thought it had to do with the visions she’d experienced lately. Since she was a little girl, she had lived with the knowledge that some of her visions had come true, in scary ways. Every year, they had become sharper and more intimidating. The length of time between her vision and the event taking place could vary, but more often it wasn’t more than a few days until it actually happened.

Jane was meeting her friends at King’s Cross, so she headed for the underground. The best thing about flying into Heathrow was that she didn’t need to walk outside in the cold winter weather to get to it.

Thinking about the weather brought it back to her – she wished she was in Australia now. Sue was just days away from giving birth to her baby, and Andrew was bound to be worried. Jane wanted to be sure it would all be fine. She’d followed their struggles for years, and she was so happy it was finally working out for them.

Andrew and Sue met in their early twenties, and had been together “off and on” for fifteen years. During those years, there had been a lot of talk about how it “probably wouldn’t last too long”, even if they ever got together fully.

But they had confounded everyone. Last year, they’d decided to stop pussy-footing around, and got married. And then, seemingly in no time, Sue had gotten pregnant. Jane was so happy for them.

The “tube” would take 40 minutes into the city, so Jane sank down in the seat, shut her eyes and tried to relax. Her nerves were really tight and a lot seemed to be happening around her. It was easier to rest in the “tube”, she knew she was on the ground and could get off at the next stop if she needed too, which she couldn’t in a plane. Soon she was asleep.

 _A helicopter is flying above. God, the sound is so loud! My body hurts like hell, like something’s ripped open. The pain’s coming from underneath. Ah! The light’s getting brighter. It’s getting unbearable. I don’t want to be here!!! My blood is pulsing strong. I don’t want this. The pain is enough. I try to shout stop! But there’s no sound, or perhaps no one heard me. I want to hold my hands over my ears, to close out all the sounds and at the same time hold them around my stomach. The sharp pain makes me twist and turn. I want to run away from everything. I can’t bear it! Then it explodes around me, and after a micro second of colors it goes black._

 _When the sight came back it’s gentler on my eyes. I haven’t seen anything like it before. It is sending out such peace. It feels like I’m floating and it is giving me a feeling of calm, as it’s telling me that I haven’t anything to worry about. It is much better than I experienced just a moment before. My pain is gone. Then something is knocking on my shoulder. I turn around and see a lady coming to me, she is holding something in her arms. When she reaches me and I look down on the bundle she is carrying. I see a rosy little baby boy. He is so tiny and in such peace. His small hands are clenched. It looks like he is asleep. The lady hands him over to me and my motherly instinct reached out to him. When I have him in my arms, the lady starts to disappear, like she just dispersed into thin air. The question of what I would do with him passes through me, but I know deep inside me I would never let him go._

 _Next thing I know is that we, the boy and I are among several people dressed in black. At first I can’t understand why they are so sad and their tears are running. Why can’t they feel the peace I have? When I recognize that the people are family, relatives and friends to Andrew and I, then I understand a terrible thing has happened. When I know who the people are that I’m with, I walk around trying to find one man in particular – my husband. I was certain he would be here. In my search for him I come in contact with most of the people, and when I look at them again there is more stillness in their faces and the tears has stopped._

 _My search takes me around in bigger circles and I have to go further away from the crowd to find him. I approach slowly. He is standing there alone and looks worse than all the others together. When I’m twenty meters away from him I stop. I stand and watch him for a long time. My tears start rolling down my cheeks. Even from the distance between us I can feel his ache. I want to go to him, and put the boy in his arms and lay my hands on him, but feel that I won’t be able to reach inside him. I can’t comfort him. That is not for me to do. I have to leave him with his grief and I go back to the space where I feel pure harmony._

Jane woke up in a snap. Something had happened! She told herself to calm down – she couldn’t be sure it had been a vision. But it had seemed so real … She’d been Sue. The baby! She felt the heaviness of it in her heart still, and her face was wet.

She found a napkin and wiped the tears away, and then she crossed her fingers and prayed to God. “Please don’t do this”. Let it never become true. But somewhere in the back of her head she had a nasty, creeping feeling that whatever was going to happen would happen, and there was nothing she could do to change it.

During the last year she’d had several visions about Andrew, which had come true. Through the years they’d built a special bond, but always as good, honest friends. Some of the rumors before their marriage wondered whether Andrew would be unfaithful with Jane, but their relationship had never gone that way. Sue was a good friend too, after all.

Jane had known when Andrew proposed to Sue, even before he told her she knew it. A vision had also shown her, to within a month, when they’d be married. A further vision had told her that they would became parents and that their child would be a boy. When she had talked with him the last time and he had asked her which of two names they should give their son she had said it would be Jack.

But this was different. Scary. It felt like a curse! She knew that she was white as a sheet and her heart was pounding. She asked herself what she could do about it. She looked out the window and saw that she was near to her station so she tried to act as it was nothing.

*~*~*

Jane was glad to see that Terry and Mark were waiting for her when she arrived at King’s Cross. It hadn’t been difficult to recognize them when they looked like such an odd pair, Terry very short and Mark very tall and big. Jane shined up to see them and greeted them happily. They didn’t need to wait so much longer before her other two friends joined them at the station. It’d been a good choice to meet there and easy to meet up for them when they came from different places. Only Terry and Mark that actually came from the London area.

After they met they went with Jane to her hotel so she could be rid of her suitcase and then they went to a restaurant to eat dinner. They had a lot to talk about. Her friends seemed to get on well together.

In the beginning it wasn’t a problem for Jane to show a happy face, and forget the vision for some time. But it wasn’t long before it slowly crept back to her. She really tried to ignore how badly the vision had shaken her.

The dinner went on in an easy, relaxed way when they found several interests incoming. Afterwards they’d gone for a walk through the early part London’s night life. They’d visited one or two pubs. Before Jane yawned for the hundredth and first time she told them she had to turn in for the night.

Next day they had decided to do some tourist things and during the day they went for a ride on “the London eye”. They managed to do some shopping, and in all they had a very nice time together. She’d been a little worried how well her friends would get on together.

On several occasions she took time to study them. Terry, who was the shortest among them, was the one that seemed to easily take the biggest place. She was intelligent and very charismatic. Mark, who was also the only guy in the group, seemed to be more of the silent type, but if there was a subject he burnt for he found it had hard to stop himself talking about it. To his lucky star did Betty shared his great interest in ships.

Betty was the oldest of them and looked like a tough girl with her black hair and leather jacket. Maybe some people would be intimidated by her but once you got to know her you realised she was a sweet and funny. The last of Jane’s friends was Kate and probably the one that was best-looking of all of them. She could easily have had a career as a model, but early on she had decided to become a teacher.

Jane had looked forward to this trip for so long. It was about time for her to meet these friends and just not chat with them over Internet and mails. In the beginning they’d got to know each other through their interest in writing and their wish to become better writers. During the last two years they had increased their depths of friendship.

Being there in London together with them she didn’t want anything to spoil the time for her.

*~*~*

The vision wouldn’t leave her alone though. She tried to decide if she should call Andrew and Sue or not. She hesitated because Sue was about to give birth to their son any day and she didn’t want to worry them. If it was meant to happen it was and she couldn’t do anything about it. Not a damned thing.

So it wasn’t going to happen. She kept praying it wasn’t going to happen. It couldn’t happen – Andrew and Sue were soul mates. They were worth every moment together.

If Jane called and managed to warn them in time, she didn’t know either what that would do in the future. Even if the vision was true, and she managed to save them, what did that mean? It didn’t mean happy ever after. The calamity howlers could still be right. For all she really knew, they could be rowing constantly, could be broken up next week. If she said anything, it could even spark problems between them. Maybe. She shook herself, and told herself it would all be alright. Probably …

After two days of not doing anything, Jane felt a bigger, creepy feeling in her spine. When she woke in the morning it was stronger and still she hadn’t done anything. Her watch told her that Andrew and Sue probably would be eating dinner. So she shoved it aside.

*~*~*

Later when she and her friends were on the way to eat lunch, and they passed a newspaper stand Jane froze. She couldn’t rip her eyes from the headlines.

“What is it Jane? It looks like you’ve seen a ghost.”

She could only point to the newspaper. Then she fainted.

When she woke up, her friends had gathered around her and wanted to know what happened. Jane demanded to read the article before she could tell her anything.

 **Mother and baby killed in ‘copter crash  
Sydney:** A young pregnant woman has died en route to the St. Mary hospital, Sydney. Police say the woman, who has not yet been named, was flying from Newcastle by helicopter after going into labor in the early hours of yesterday morning. An investigation is underway into what made the chartered helicopter lose altitude on its approach to the city, though eye-witnesses say the pilot, who also tragically died on impact, “seemed to do everything he could to land it safely”. Despite his efforts, the helicopter is understood to have clipped the edge of a freight truck, and gone into a spin that brought it crashing to the ground. Quick-thinking nurse Brenda MacDonald was able to get most of the passengers away from the helicopter unharmed before it exploded, but the young woman has sustained severe injuries in the crash, and she was pronounced dead by paramedics. “It was terrible,” said Brenda. “her husband pulled her free before the explosion, while I was helping some of the others, but there was nothing we could do. My heart goes out to her family.”

There was a picture on the wreck, but none of the people. This was good in one way, but in the other Jane wanted to know if it was Andrew and Sue. Why didn’t they give their names?!

When she had collected herself she told them about her visions. At first her friends were silent, and after a few minutes they started asking her questions.

“How long have you had these visions?”

“Is it always with your friends?”

“How long time is it between that you have them and it seems to happen in reality?”

The questions came so fast and Jane first shakes her head and then started to answer them.

“I’ve had them as long as I can remember. They’ve increased as I get older and somehow I’ve learnt to live with them. I usually don’t talk about it because I’ve never seen them as a gift and it is frustrating to not be able to do a single thing about.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I mean if I’d ever once tried to intervene, something else always, seems to happen like destiny is already has been stalked out and it should happen.”

Jane went on to tell them, how the latest vision she’d had was just two days ago. That was why she’d been so edgy all the time. She filled them in about her friends in Sydney and how they were expecting a child any day, how she foreseen that Andrew and Sue would have a son and would name him Jack.

Her friends read the paper in turn, and after that they understood her reaction. Together they tried to see how in time Jane had had the vision and the terrible accident might now happen. It sent cold shivers through them when it seemed to be about the same time. Jane thought that if she just had followed her first instinct to call Andrew she might have been the first to know if the vision was true.

Some of her worries lay also in that she’d had no phone calls from Andrew and Sue. She tried to reassure herself that this could only be good news. Wasn’t there a proverb that said ‘no news is good news’? But then it could be, as she’d seen in her vision that Andrew was in a very devastated condition.

Jane called her friends as fast as she could, to try to get over some of her blame for not calling immediately. To her relief Andrew answered and didn’t sound devastated. It hadn’t been them in the accident, even though Sue was due to give birth the following day. He appreciated her concern for them and promised to take the vision as a warning.

Jane was relieved that everything seemed okay, but still she had a creepy feeling about her friends. She thought it somehow went to easy. It was confusing in some way.

The rest of her planned stay went well because she was more at ease. The time with Terry, Mark, Kate and Betty was fine. All promised that they would meet up again.

During the flight back to Sydney Jane had a lot of time to go through her vision and try to see what it was that she didn’t understand. At the same time, she was very much looking forward to being able to spend time with Andrew and Sue during their first weeks of parenthood.

Back on the ground again she breathed freely. While it had been really good in London, home was always best. Most of all she was glad that there hadn’t been a new vision. Nothing of what had happened in the last one seemed to be true, and she prayed it would stay so.

Not long after her flight, she was greeted by a loving face. She brightened up more, to see Steve. She dropped her bags and threw her arms around his neck.

He caught her and they shared kisses. Passers-by just smiled at their love.

*~*~*

Two days later, she wasn’t so happy and she wished she’d never had the vision. It felt like she’d hardly come home before she had to turn back to Sydney.

The day after she’d got back her friend Sue had to be rushed to the hospital. And Jane was there now, walking back and forth as it seemed to take a very long time. The whole family of both Andrew and Sue were to been seen there and everyone was as nervous as her.

The doctors and staff hadn’t told them much. There seemed to be some complications. Andrew looked the worst when he had been forced to leave the room.

Another hour of waiting, and finally a doctor came out. His clothes were colored red and there was no smile on his face. He went directly to Andrew and whispered to him.

When it had sunk in Andrew ran through the doors with a scream. The doctor then went to Sue’s parents and they were soon holding each other crying.

Jane, who’d been standing near them had heard the devastating news – Sue hadn’t made it, but the doctors had delivered her son. Jane went after Andrew to be a shoulder for him to cry on.

*~*~*

Five years later Jane’s friends were there to comfort her. She’d had a great loss and it was hard for her to see a way forward. It didn’t seem to help that she had two beautiful children to take care of. She felt as awful as she had in the vision. Her visions were a curse for her and she couldn’t do anything to stop things happening. She felt hopeless when her friends suffered too.

Andrew was there and watching Jane as she walked to a grave and put some flowers on it. When she came back he passed her son Sebastian over to her and stroked a tear away from her chin. Susanna, her daughter, took her hand and Andrew put his arm around her shoulder when they started to walk to the car.

“It will get better in time, you will see you can meet someone new... If I can you can.”

 

The End


End file.
